How Entrepreneurs Can Build Stronger and More Recognizable Brands with guest K’teonia Gunder

Transcription: 

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
An innovative business-savvy entrepreneur that also excels at branding and graphic design is a recipe for success. That’s exactly what we have in today’s guest, K’teonia Gunder the owner of K. Gunder Tools and K Gunder Branding & Building is quite the crafty one. Her company is the first African American-owned brand to offer a dye cut tools line. And her five-piece toolkits are the first of their kind in the market. Not only is K’teonia crushing the crafting industry. She also uses her creative talents to help other entrepreneurs with their web design, graphic design, brand development, and much more. Today we’ll learn how crafting can be a useful skill for entrepreneurs to build stronger and more recognizable brands. K’teonia, thank you so much for being here.

K’teonia Gunder:
Thank you for having me.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely, so K’teonia is a client of mine. I love highlighting clients because they have amazing stories. And I can’t wait to jump into yours. K’teonia, thank you for being here, but I want to learn about the beginning of your process. Tell me about your background and how you even got into crafting. Because clearly we have a few things on the table and I want to get into that. What’s your background before you got into crafting?

K’teonia Gunder:
I started off working in different retail stores, me and my husband, we had just started dating and we moved to North Dakota, where I was already living there. He ended up moving there with me.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
And so from there, I was like, “I’m tired of these jobs, these dead-end jobs.” And I just wanted to do something different. I started off with the paparazzi, which is the jury.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
That didn’t work. I became like a… What do they call? Like the network marketing company.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Got it.

K’teonia Gunder:
I became someone that sell paparazzi. And so from there, I was like, “You know what? This don’t work for me. This is for someone else.” From there, I started off doing the phone cases. And from the phone cases, I know its like, “This is too tedious. I don’t like this.” I kind of gave it a break on the entrepreneurship role. I think it was maybe like probably like a year later I got back to working. And I was telling my husband, like, “I want to open up a boutique.” And mind you, this is all in North Dakota.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
You’re the first person I ever known from North Dakota.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah. Blame my parents about that, but I’m not going to lie. North Dakota was the best.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That’s awesome.

K’teonia Gunder:
It was one of the best experience. I became a woman there.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Yes.

K’teonia Gunder:
And so North Dakota will always be such a-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely.

K’teonia Gunder:
I feel like a grand part of my life. I ended up meeting a lady there. We opened up a boutique there. And we actually made history with that one too. We were the first black owned female boutique.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Nice.

K’teonia Gunder:
That’s where we made history there. And I ended up staying open for, I think almost a year and I got pregnant with my twins.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
And honestly that’s where this came from.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Wow.

K’teonia Gunder:
I started making, I heard about the cricket. I started making little things such as like these t-shirts, I was making journals. I was doing all types of stuff and I was trying to prepare for them, by doing stuff for the nursery, I was like, “Okay, I’m liking this.” I think I should make this a business. And so from there, I think it was maybe like six months in, my husband ended up going back to work after three months because he stayed home with me. I was like, “I got to figure something out.” I like to have my own money and whatnot. I got to have my own money. I like to shop. I’m a shopaholic.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
I end up starting a business and I’ll forever… It’s two people that invested in me and I’ll forever hold… Because I feel like they helped me build what I have now. And one of the ladies name is Jerica and the other lady was named Andrea. One was from what, Minnesota. And the other one was from Florida. They heard about me. I’m like, “How y’all know about me?” Because I feel like my graph design work at the time and my crafting work wasn’t the best.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
You never know how far that’s expanded.

K’teonia Gunder:
Right. And so I ended up doing work for them. From there it was a $20 investment because that’s how much I was charging when I first started out. $20 investment pretty much started everything for this.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That’s amazing.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Wow. And I have something to admit. We worked together to do your trademark for K. Gunder Tools. I had to do a lot of research to figure out what is a ding kit. I’m so excited that we have this here today and I can totally understand you being a trailblazer in this industry because this is something that I don’t know much about, but I can see how it’s helped you to not only create a stream of revenue for yourself, but to help other entrepreneurs. Tell me about, what are some ways that crafting can be helpful or useful for entrepreneurs? Because I’m thinking that we can kind of make things our own, but tell us your contribution to that. How can crafting be helpful for entrepreneurs?

K’teonia Gunder:
A lot of entrepreneurs, like, we mostly start out with do with yourself theme. With crafting, you can make your own labels, you can make your own t-shirts and that’s really big when you first starting out your brand, a lot of people don’t know what they really want to do. So sometimes they want to put together a shirt line or something real fast that they can sell as a product. With that. Yeah. Most of it definitely helps.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely. That makes sense because I am in that stage. I have actually been doing some research on how I can get more branded material like mugs and t-shirts and pens. And as I’m doing the research, you have to order 500 at a time or 100 at a time. And I haven’t made a decision yet, because just doesn’t feel right. I can only imagine if I had the skills that you have. Where you can just create that yourself. And I was checking out your website and you offer a lot of that. Is that kind of what crafting has to offer or part of it, as it relates to an entrepreneur, you can create your own bags and shirts and signs. Is that what you do for yourself and other businesses?

K’teonia Gunder:
Yep. I do that for other business. Also I teach it. A lot of people used to ask me, “How do you do this?” And one day I was like, “You know what? I should just start a class.” And my first class filled up, I think it was like 10 to 15 people. That’s great. Mind you, that was my very first time ever teaching people. I was nervous.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Like, “If you get one, you be happy.”

K’teonia Gunder:
Right.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
But you got 10 to 15.

K’teonia Gunder:
And I was so scared. I’m like, “Okay, these people going to listen to me.” And from there that started that passion on teaching.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That’s amazing.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah, crafting, I think it’s very essential for your business because oftentimes we think that with branding ourselves, we have to spend all this money all the time. You don’t when you first starting out. Of course, you’re going to have to spend money, but starting out, you really don’t.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Keep your expenses low. Always say that.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Yeah. What is this? Tell us about this toolkit? This is your cake K.Gunder Tools weeding kit. I would like to know what everything does. Because these can help others make their own crafts to sell or promote their brand. What does everything do?

K’teonia Gunder:
With this one, we use this one for weeding.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
What does weeding mean?

K’teonia Gunder:
Weeding is… Okay. You going to have a sheet of vinyl.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
And after you… So from when you have the sheet of vinyl, you’re going to lay it in your cricket and you’re going to cut it. And once you cut it, you take this. I wish I had-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
The cricket is a machine though. That’s fine. We’ll we will elaborate more later.

K’teonia Gunder:
You going to use this to take the vinyl pieces off. That way-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Got it.

K’teonia Gunder:
Can use it to put it on your shirt and make this.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Awesome. Entrepreneurs, you guys can use that first piece to create shirts. Well, probably all of this.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah. All of this.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Shirts like that. Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
Because I just made it more easier. For me when I’m weeding, I’m a fast weeder. Sometimes I want to use my double sided weeder. I would.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yep, so I can just like… Because you going to have some pieces that’s really small. And so this double side of weeder, this one right here, this is better for weeding out small parts. I use my double side of weeder more than I use this one.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
I only use this one when I’m pretty much making labels and stuff. If I can’t get the labels off my paper, which we have paper as well.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Awesome.

K’teonia Gunder:
You guys. And with this one, this is pretty much picking up all the pieces.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
After you’ve been on weeding, you may have some little particle still-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
I see it. Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yep. You can pick up all the pieces and this is the flattener. You have different type of vinyl. You have the vinyl that you can actually put on the shirts and you have the vinyl that you can put on the cups. When you are using the vinyl that you put on a cup, you have to take this and sometimes flatten the vinyl with the adhesive paper that’s going to be on it. And you want to smooth it out. I made this one, so it can be easy for people to use. Because I know I’ve used other brand tools and they worked don’t get me wrong, but I just needed something-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Not as well.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah. That can just-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Well, I love this and you didn’t even leave a gap. For those of us who are… There’s a lot of people who want to start t-shirt lines or different things like that, where they’re selling these products. But like I said, one of the barriers is getting the inventory or having to pay someone else to do all these things and then selling that. And then your profit is so small, but with what you teach and the products that you have, people can do this on their own. Even if you don’t have a t-shirt company or a product line, a lot of service based industries do want to sell mugs or different items, t-shirts and things like that. And learning how to craft can really save you money to create your own branded products. Am I right?

K’teonia Gunder:
Yep. And another thing too, a lot of people think you just have to use these tools just for the cricket, you don’t.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay. And the cricket is the machine, right?

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah. The got cutter machine. You have the cricket, you have a silhouette, you have a brother scan cut and a cameo. Pretty much people think you can just use it for that. No, I use it also with my laser machine. And I used it with making this one.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That’s awesome.

K’teonia Gunder:
This was laser in grade four.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Like your own signs.

K’teonia Gunder:
Right.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
For you. I know that you work with other entrepreneurs. Right. Which is something that I want to get into. Not only do you have K. Gunder Tools, you also have K. Gunder Branding and Building. In that business, you help entrepreneurs with web design and brand development and brand strategy. Right. Tell us about your process of like when you’re helping an entrepreneur come up with their brand identity, because a lot of people have an idea for a business, they know that they have to do something with branding. When someone comes to you and says, “Hey, I need help with my brand strategy.” What’s your process like working with them?

K’teonia Gunder:
Pretty much when I first get with the client, I try to get an understanding on who are they? Because that’s pretty much the hardest thing. A lot of people create brands and it don’t even relate nothing to them.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Right.

K’teonia Gunder:
I try to figure out who, what do you like? Is this something that you really want to do? Or is this something you seen someone else do? Because we have a lot of that in the community now. And that’s one of my biggest things. First we try to figure out who are you, get to know who you are, why are you selling this product? Because most of the time I have asked a lot of people, why you selling this product? They can’t even tell me why they selling the product.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Because it makes money.

K’teonia Gunder:
Right.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Or they saw somebody else do it.

K’teonia Gunder:
Right. And I asked them, “Is this going to be a solution? Is this product, is this solution? What are you trying to achieve?” We start off with that. From there, we bring them in, pretty much send them some questionnaires and stuff like that. Try to get to know who that person is. Because when I first start, I really try to dive deep because I want to make sure if me and this person works.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay. Absolutely.

K’teonia Gunder:
Pretty well. And not on the thing of, “Is it going to get along?” It’s more so of, “Can I bring your vision to life?” If I can’t, I want to send you to somebody that can.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Right. And that’s real. It’s not just about making money. It’s about leaving a last impression and really being able to help that client. Absolutely.

K’teonia Gunder:
From there we do that. The next step is actually sending over the color palette, sending over different funds, sending over my… I put together like a little brand package so they can understand, what is branding? Because a lot of people just start shopping around. I need this. No you don’t. Sometimes you don’t need it. Sometimes you don’t even need me. Come on, come to my class. Let me help you out. You can do a lot of this stuff yourself.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Wow.

K’teonia Gunder:
But, of course, if they need that too, I’m going to help them.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely.

K’teonia Gunder:
Always try to make the most easier route for them. Because I’m not the person that just want to take your money. And I kid you not, it’s a lot of people that just throw their money at, “Can you just do this?” No, I need to know that you’re serious about building this brand because I can start your brand and we can start creating everything forward, but is it going to be left up to me to do all the work.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
I know. I understand.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah, pretty much from there we do that. And then we actually get to the actual working of the brand.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
And from there I know a lot of people turn around time with brand design is soon than mines. I like to take my time because I really try to understand that person. I don’t like to rush things. Even with this brand. Do you know how long it took us to do this?

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
I can only imagine. And you are your brand. That’s what entrepreneurs need to understand. When people often ask me, I mean about branding and this, I’m like, “The first thing you need to get through your head is there’s no separation.” Yeah. Your business entity might be separate but in reality you are your brand, especially as a small business where we can’t hide behind a brand. Like on your website, you need to show your face.

K’teonia Gunder:
Right.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
On your website because people are looking for you, especially as a small business. When we go to the Coca Cola website, we don’t look for who’s running the business. We’re looking for the product because that’s a bigger corporation, a bigger brand. But when it comes to small businesses, single member entrepreneurs and solo entrepreneurs, people want to see who you are and you are your brand. You cannot really hide from that. I think that you starting in that way is critical because it’s not just about what pictures you like and what colors you like. It has to speak to your audience, first of all. And it has to be true to who you are. That’s fantastic. Speaking of that, what would you say are like, must have branding items for any entrepreneur? We know there’s like websites and logos and this and that. What do you think just about all entrepreneurs need to have when they’re starting out?

K’teonia Gunder:
Honestly, because of the way of the world, I think oftentimes we think that we don’t need websites. Websites pretty much secure the other person as well as us too. Because you have your policies, you have the way you take your payment.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Yeah.

K’teonia Gunder:
And it also shows that you take, “I mean business.” You don’t have to start off with the most expensive website. They have a lot of websites out here that you can create yourself. And they have some where you can use like YouTube, follow along with YouTube, you got Udemy, you have something New Skills Academy. I just found out about that one.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Awesome.

K’teonia Gunder:
And they will teach you how to do these things. You don’t have to just get the fancy website. Because you have room to grow. You have to think about, even if you think about Apple.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Yes.

K’teonia Gunder:
From where they started from and look at them now, they always grown. It is just good to always grow with your business. I would say websites, of course you need, I would say products, so like t-shirts, that would be nice. Something to have to start off with. And business cards are very essential.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Yes.

K’teonia Gunder:
Definitely business cards.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
And people say business cards are outdated. I do not believe business cards are outdated. Boring business cards are out outdated.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yes.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
If you have a flimsy business card that just has your business name on it and it’s just regular contact information. Yes. That will not get you anywhere. Right. But I wish I had my business card here. Maybe I’ll bring it another time. But if your business card has some emf to it. It speaks to your brand. It has your personality. Like on my business card, it has my picture on it. A really nice picture. Some branding design, one side is vertical. The other side is horizontal. It’s on thick card stock. It’s something that people want to keep. I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength with that because people think that just because we’re in the digital age, like, “Oh, you just send your number or ping with your phone.” Yeah. That’s cool. But at the same time, a good solid business card that represents your brand. Well, people are going to keep that.

K’teonia Gunder:
Right.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Not just because it’s your business card, but because if they have their own business, they might use yours. Like, “This looks really great. I’m going to keep this for when I want to have my own or form my own.” Going into that, like what mistakes do you see that entrepreneurs make with branding?

K’teonia Gunder:
I feel me personally. And I’m going to use myself.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely.

K’teonia Gunder:
Because I don’t want to speak on anyone else.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
For your perspective.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah. When I first started out, my biggest thing was spending a lot of money on product. I bought so much product. Didn’t have a plan. I didn’t really have a plan. And that was my very first business. But along the line, I’m happy that all that happened because now I have the wisdom to know the does and don’ts. I think if you don’t have a strategy on how you going to set your business up, how you going to sell the product, how you going to bring your product, you shouldn’t even be in business. You should atleast have a business plan together. That’s my biggest thing. And also-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely.

K’teonia Gunder:
Another thing that people really sleep on is a marketing plan.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely.

K’teonia Gunder:
Okay. So you going to launch this-

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
I think that’s the most important of the business plan.

K’teonia Gunder:
Right. How you going to sell? How you going to get your products to the people? I would say that one to me.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Yeah. Fantastic. Because you could have the best product, you could have the best service, but if no one knows about it. You can’t make any money. Thank you. I also want to show people because I’m really inspired by this, because like I mentioned, I’ve actually been looking up online to get mugs and different branding tools for kits and things that I want to send to people. And you just have to order so much and I would love to just snap and know how to do all these things. But now I have a resource, your course, so things that you can make entrepreneurs again, even if you’re not selling these items yourself, you can learn how to craft so that you can create these items yourself and save some money.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
She has coasters here that are branded, you have a notepad here that’s branded, even these stickers on these mints. I think it’s just an amazing skill that you have. And not only do you use it for yourself, you use it to help your clients and other entrepreneurs. And even the box that it comes in is branded. I could only imagine knowing how to do something like this, I would be doing this every weekend and having so many things to give, sell, offer.

K’teonia Gunder:
Yeah.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Thank you for sharing that resource for us. Sometimes we don’t think about it that way, but I really believe in keeping your expenses low. When you first start a business, understanding the difference between investments and expenses, investments make you more money, expenses may not, but you can save on expenses by learning how to do a lot of things yourself.

K’teonia Gunder:
Exactly.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Right?

K’teonia Gunder:
Mm-hmm.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
K’teonia, how can people get in touch with you, learn more about your courses, your products, where can we find you online?

K’teonia Gunder:
Okay. You can find me on Instagram at KgunderTools or KgunderBB. KgunderTools is the Instagram for the crafts.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Okay.

K’teonia Gunder:
And the BB is for the branding. Also you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and of course you can email me too.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Fantastic. And what’s your email address?

K’teonia Gunder:
My email is info@KgunderBB and I reply super fast.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Info@KgunderBB.com. Awesome. Thank you so much.

K’teonia Gunder:
Oh, you’re welcome.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Be sure to share today’s show with someone who can benefit and visit MyASBN.com and subscribe. If you have any questions or comments about today’s show, I would love to hear from you, send me a message or comment on Instagram at @daynathomaslaw. Remember to tune in next week and every week to make sure your business is launched and legal.